According to a report in The Indian Express, “Vijay Gutte has been booked under Section 132 (1)(c) of the CGST Act, which involves the wrongful availment of input tax credit using bills and invoices”.

According to the same report, Gutte’s firm VRG Digital Corp Pvt Ltd took fake invoices worth Rs 34 crores for the purpose of animation and manpower from the company – Horizon Outsource Solutions Pvt Ltd. Interestingly, Horizon Outsource Solutions Pvt Ltd too is accused of GST fraud of over Rs 170 crores.

Gutte, who was said to be non-cooperative with the authorities over the same matter, has been sent to judicial custody at Arthur Road jail till August 14.

The remand application filed in the court as a per a leading daily, states, “The accused (Gutte) had not only availed of non-existent input tax credit (ITC) but further went ahead and fraudulently claimed refund of such ITC from the GST department on the strength of such fake/ bogus invoices to defraud state exchequer.”

In such cases, if the amount of wrongful refund exceeds Rs 5 crores, the accused is subject to a fine along with imprisonment of up to five years. Vijay Gutte marks his directorial debut with The Accidental Prime Minister that stars Anupam Kher as former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.